This should be tomato season. But, mine are still green.

However, the pumpkins are ripe. I harvested these today:

Pumpkins are not supposed to be ready until September. I like to decorate the front porch with them for Halloween. I’ve never had to store pumpkins – but we’ll try putting these in a cool corner of the basement and hope they’ll keep for the appropriate season!

Only one small pumpkin had a hole in it, and was filled with worms and other crawly things, and rotting flesh. I tossed it into the chicken yard. The hens were thrilled. They wish that the entire harvest was squishy and buggy. Sorry girls. You’ll get these in October, when they’ll be just the way you like them.

It was such a record-breaking wet spring, that this summer’s drought caught me totally by surprise. I know it hasn’t rained. But, it’s been humid. It feels damp. I’ve been watering the vegetable garden, but otherwise have left things alone. Yesterday, I noticed this:

The sun spire in the woodland border is about to expire.

This made me look around. Really look. What  I saw is scary. Bushes are turning yellow, which is something we like seeing in October, not the beginning of August. Oak leaves are brown and dropping. Maple trees are showing signs of stress – some leaves are turning orange.

I worry about the forest amphibians. They’ll have to go deep to find mud. At the normally swampy edges, the jewel weed is wilted. There’s a pine path into the woods. It smells like fire. It hasn’t burned – yet – but it has that toasty, dry, warm pine needle smell. Usually, I love that aroma, but now it’s making me nervous.

Some plants are doing fine. In the meadow across the street the golden rod is in full blaze. This is a haven for butterflies. And field mice. Lily loves sniffing here.

The weather report forecasts a thunderstorm. Let’s hope it pours.

I put 1,000 miles on my car last week. A good chunk of the traveling entailed taking boys to and fro summer programs. In other words, hauling laundry.

But, 466 miles were logged taking the chickens to the set of an Animal Planet show. Philomena and Agnes rode in one crate, and Coco in another. They like road trips.

They thought that the other chickens at the hotel were quite beautiful.

I can’t tell you about the filming until the show airs sometime this fall. Suffice it to say that I was upstaged by my chickens. I’m getting quite used to it. I don’t mind. They were brilliant!

I think the expression should be surprised as a wet hen.

I’ve got a chicken road trip coming up. A couple of my girls are going to be on an Animal Planet program! I can’t give you details now, but what I can tell you is that they’re going to be used to show how easy it is to train any animal with thoughtful, consistent, positive reinforcement.

I need to bring two untrained hens, so Agnes and Philomena, the Golden Comets, will get their star turn. It’s a five hour drive, and they’ll be staying in a crate in a hotel room, and since it’s not easy to train stressed animals, I’ve been getting them acclimated to the crate, being confined, and new surroundings.

Meanwhile, I need to bring Coco, too. She’s my best traveling hen. Nothing fazes her and even people who are wary of chickens love her. However, as you know, she’s been broody. She’s been an unmovable, bad-tempered lump since the beginning of June. If she was sitting on fertile eggs, she could have hatched two clutches by now. So, two days ago, I put her in this wire-bottomed crate.

Coco is an unflappable hen (pun intended.) Even broody she doesn’t panic and throw herself at the wire door. She’s standing and walking around. I’ve been handling her and giving her special treats. The anti-broody crate is working a bit. However, I can tell that if she saw her nesting box, she’d turn into a lump again. So, she’s staying in the crate.

Meanwhile, I have much to do before leaving on Monday. The traveling crates need scrubbing. The three hens will get baths on Sunday. Then I’m going to give myself a manicure. Right before I leave. Think it will last?

It’s going to be an exhausting week. After the taping, I’ll drive five hours back home. Then, on Thursday I drive four plus hours down to NYC to pick up our oldest son from a pre-college program in Brooklyn. Two days later, we pick up our other son from boy scout camp in New Hampshire (note that it’s the exact opposite direction.) I can’t blog or respond to emails from the car, so don’t worry if you don’t hear from me until August!